Mind Games
by Buddycomplex
Summary: For Ino, Naruto was just an oblivious fool, not even worth mentioning. When her father tells her about the four shinobis, she should never use a mind jutsu on, because their minds are dark and infected with mental poison, she is irritated. Why was her father afraid of Naruto? (Naruto X Ino)
1. Chapter 1

**Mind Games**

Chapter One: In mind everything is possible

"Listen Ino, this clan jutsu is only useable, if one of your teammates is besides you. If you get stronger and understand the depths of this jutsu, I am sure you will be able to use it without losing consciousness.", Inoichi explained and rubbed his head.

As he noticed that his dear daughter didn´t hear a single word, because her thoughts were occupied with her freshly made nails, Inoichi let out a small sight. Seriously sometimes he wanted to cry at his daughters behavior.

"Ino! Stop gawking at your nails and pay attention to lesson.", the blond haired man growled, getting slightly annoyed.

"Dad? Can´t you make it quick? I am going to meet up with Sakura and the others for shopping.", the girl replied, wishing the time to pass quicker.

Inoichi stood up, grabbed some tea from the kitchen of their small flat, and joined his daughter again.

"Just one last thing, but Ino, this is really important. And it´s the only thing I want you to swear upon your life. You see this is not only a question, but an order."

Ino looked at her father indifferently, yet she was quite nervous.

What was making her fearless dad so restless.

Before Inoichi started to speak again, he gulped the rest of the steaming hot tea down his throat, just not to have a sore throat during his speech.

"There are only four people you absolutely cannot use the mind control jutsu on.", Inoichi stated and played with his cup, while keeping the stern look on his face.

"If you ever encounter those four, then no matter what, never use this jutsu. Ino, promise it to me."

Biting her lower lip, Ino tried to figure out what her dad was talking about.

"There are some people who have a sick mind. If you were to enter those, your mind surely will be infected. And believe me, it´s much more painful than death.", Inoichi set his eyes on his blonde girl.

The little speech triggered Inos interest.

_Who could be possibly so mad to even scare he dad?_

"And? Who are these madmen?", she asked, trying to sound bored.

"Ino! Take it seriously!"

"Yes, I am totally serious.", the twelve year old girl shot back and stroke her long hair.

"Okay, then the first one is Orochimaru, the former student of the Sandaime and current S-ranked missing nin and kno-", Inoichi was interrupted by the blond girl.

"I heard about him in the academy. He was banned from Konoha, because he did experiments on orphaned children.", Ino stated, remembering the lesson from two weeks prior.

"Right. I think you know, why you shouldn´t enter his mind. Well, the second one you should not enter is Itachi Uchiha. All in all Uchihas like to keep their things private. And as you may not know, Itachi almost murdered his whole clan except for his brother Sasuke and his best friend Shisui."

At the mention of her Sasuke, Ino let out a small squeak, causing her father to roll his eyes.

"The third one is Shisui Uchiha. Although he is a prodigy, an elite ninja, he lost himself and got partly consumed by the sharingan. As long as he doesn´t use it, he quite the nice guy to get along, but he is a monster as soon as he uses the sharingan."

"Eh? That´s creepy. And this guys really related to Sasuke-kun?", Ino exclaimed.

"That´s not the point here, princess. Just don´t go at him with your mind walking jutsu or anything

else. ", Inoichi told his daughter.

"Okay and what´s up with the last person? This guy has to be a real sicko right? But I don´t think this guy could be more insane than the previous ones.",Ino stated, while her face slightly frowned.

"The last one is a little bit different, than the others. Actually, he had no control about it. His sick mind is probably not even his own.", Inoichi spoke is riddles.

"And who is it? That crazy snake lady from your workplace?", Ino was getting impatient. In a few minutes she had to prepare herself for the shopping trip.

"No, Anko might be a...little bit special, but it´s not her.", the Yamanaka tried to hide his laugh.

"Before you tell me, I want to ask you something. All shinobi should have dark mind, since they are killing all the time, so what make them different from these so called infected minds?"

"Well the their mind scapes are also mirrors of their soul. So a dark mind scape indicates a dark soul. Every Shinobi, civilian or animal has some dark parts of their soul, influenced by their surroundings and people who shape them. Shinobis dance with the dead on a constant matter, so their souls are tainted, mirrored in their mind scapes. The special factor about the mentioned Shinobi, is that they were exposed to extreme darkness, much more than any other human being, causing them to fall mentally ill."

Ino shuddered at the thought of that. What would have happened to her if she were to be engulfed in darkness?

"And? Who is it?", Ino looked at the watch. Only four minutes left, until Sakura would come and fetch her and she still wasn´t ready yet.

"Ino, this is really serious and I want you to stay calm, okay."

The girl silently nodded.

"The fourth one is none other than your classmate Naruto Uzumaki."

"He really said that? How stupid. The only thing that Naruto has in his mind is the color orange and his stupid ramen. I mean this is a without a doubt a serious illness, but nothing dark and all mysterious, let alone dangerous.", Sakura exclaimed and briefly combed her pink hair with her hand.

"I agree to that part but Daddy looked so serious and, if I didn´t knew better, also a little bit scared.", Ino stated before picking a lilac shirt from the counter. "What do you think about it, Hina-chan?"

The shy Hyuuga girl slightly shifted her jacket, felling quite uneasy.

"I-i think th-that N-n-aruto-kun is not the idiot you think he is. H-his thoughts are deep. At least my f-father told me that."

"I was not talking about Naruto anymore, but even so he is an idiot. But love makes blind, doesn´t it, Hina-chan. Now what about this shirt?", Ino chuckeld, while Sakura hid her smile behind her hand.

"Oh...t-the s-shirt is c-cute, I-ino-chan.", Hinata anwered, her head as red as a tomato.

"Why the hell are we talking about Naruto, this dork? Sasuke is a much better topic, right Ino?", Sakura said and went ahead to grab some new shoes.

"You´re so right, Sakura.", Ino admitted and followed her friend along with Hinata.

"So Hina-chan, what do like about Naruto? After all you are such a cute girl and yet you fell in love with someone who is a stupid as his hair color. ( No offense, kay. I am blonde too..)

"H-he protected m-me.", Hinata stated vehemently. "And I know that he would only love the one girl, never betray you, carry you on his arm and you would definitely be the only girl he would look at. Practically he is the ideal guy, because once he likes you nothing else matters. Whether you are rich, poor, ugly or beautiful, you are only you in front of him. You don´t need to act as if you were some else."

Along her speech she forgot to stutter, defending her loved one with passion.

"Wow Hina-chan. I never knew you were this aggressive.",Sakura said in disbelieve.

Her shy friend normally only talked, when she was asked to or it was really needed.

Hinata blushed once again and started to bite her lips. She was actually really embarrassed but at the same time she was somewhat proud at herself.

"I still think Sasuke is much better. He is probably this type of man who are have a hard shell, but a soft inside." Ino said and looked at the sale department with widened eyes.

"Yeah right. Sasuke is an asshole, nothing more or less.", Hinata muttered to herself, but Sakura heard her barely.

"What about Sasuke?", she asked?

Hinata felt a little bit ashamed to talk like that about her fellow comerade.

"Ah nothing. I just said that Sasuke does get along with Naruto even though they are so different."

"Hmm, yeah it´s really surprising, that Sasukes is so close to him.", Sakura admitted and her thinking pose showed up.

Ino, who was currently trying some new shoes on, looked at them curiously.

"Dad told me that they are really close to each other because they have a similar mind sets. The difference between lays in the heaviness of their contaminated minds. Sasuke is not considered as sick yet, but Naruto is."

Dramatically Sakura waved around with her hand. "There you go again. Sickos and Psychos. Are you sure you don´t want to join the interrogation department in the future, but the Medic-nins department? Besides that, there is no way either of them has a mental illness, except Narutos Ramen addiction."

"If you think so. Well I stay with the Medic-nins for now. I like it much better since I can help people, not make them completely insane.",Ino said and stood up, she decided to buy the two high heels and the cute lilac shirt.

"Well then, let´s go. I heard Tanaka is selling their special diet ice cream again."

Around the evening Ino was up to a meeting with her team. Shikamaru and Choji were her childhood friends and, even though she would never admit it, they were like her siblings. Of course she liked to

nag at the two lazy bastard, but at the same time she couldn´t help to smile.

"Hey boys, do you know what Asuma wants?", she greeted them, while the two silently nodded, before Chouji raised his voice.

"I hope we are going to eat at Musume. They recently added new dish I want to try."

Ino shook her head. This was so like Chouji.

As she laid down next to her teammates, Shikamaru troubled himself to voice his opinion.

"I thought you wanted to eat it with Naruto?"

Choji gulped down the remaining Potato chips before he started talking.

"Yeah, but he is currently at a last minute mission outside of Konoha and probably won´t return this week. And even if he were not, Sasuke would tag along and you know that I don´t particularly like this guy."

Ino sighed. Ever since Sasuke told Choji, he was unfit to become a ninja, because he was simply to fat, they were kind of in a constant war.

"Team 7 is at a mission? But I went shopping with Sakura today.", Ino wondered.

A small cloud covered the sky.

"As far as Shino told me, Naruto went alone with some old white haired dude.", Choji stated and reached for the next bag of chips.

"Oh, and when will Naruto come back?", Ino asked.

Without Naruto her plan would not take action and to be honest she hated waiting.

"Why are you this concerned about Naruto? Normally you would screech in disgust as soon as he is mentioned.", Shikamaru mumbled tired as if he was about to fall asleep.

Ino didn´t know what to answer. Shikamaru was to perceptive to fool him.

And for some reason she was hesitant about telling the truth. After all, Shikamaru and Choji were pretty close to the local idiot.

"It´s probably about the things your father told you about Naruto right?", Shikamaru commented and shifted to the side, so he could look at Inos oblivious face.

"How do you know about it?", Ino asked in disbelieve.

"Well, you father asked mine and Chojis for advice, how to tell you without you going around and telling everybody in Konoha that Naruto is a psychopath."

Instantly a horrible feeling ran through her body, at the same time she felt awful.

"But it´s just nonsense anyway, right? I mean look at him. Naruto is a dork. No matter what the odds that out of all people Naruto Uzumaki could be possibly a psycho are somewhere close to zero.", Ino exclaimed, glaring at her teammate.

Shikamaru sighed.

"Troublesome.", he muttered."Look, Inoichi is not exactly the man to fool around and pull silly jokes like that. Naruto is hiding something crucial. This is certain. Everybody of our group is aware of it. The only one who possibly know about his secret is Sasuke. So no matter what, do not use any mind jutsus on him."

Shikamaru looked serious. This was no laughing matter.

"Whatever. I´ll get to know what he is hiding and I´ll definitely prove dad that Naruto is no threat for my mind." Ino whispered, when Asuma-sensei finally arrived.

**So this is the first chapter of Mind games. I am not sure if its going to be a dark fiction or not but we will see what happens in the future. As you probably noticed this will be a NaruXIno.**

**And yes I know that she is still a little bit superficial, but It will vanish in the future. At least until Naruto is back.**

**But what to you think? Will she meet the kyuubi or something completely different?**

**In Love Buddycomplex**

**P.S. Days of Neon Gray is still my english main work and I will release a new chapter as soon as possible. **

**If there is a yaoi fan among my readers.: I want to translate one of my german works in english.**

**You can chose between three.**

**1: Broken Inside:**

**Eight years ago my brother was abducted and left nothing more but fragment of a happy family.**

**A shattered family. My life without him was hard, but it went on. Even tough mum got addicted to alcohol and dad died, my life went on. On and on.**

**And now he was here, but he was not my brother anymore. My brother was dead. Naruto was just Naruto. But no one would have thought, that I would fall in love with him. (MenmaxNaruto)**

_**Before you flame me, I did not write this because I am completely obsessed with incest or anything like that. I just wanted to show how cruel love can be. And this would be my first choice since it´s kind of my masterpiece.**_

**2\. Down to hell and destruction**

**Hope? Don´t be ridiculous. Something like this does not exist here. Either you will be killed by your so called "friends" or this place will kill you.**

**But what is more horrible? **

**A prison full of demons. One way to get away from this horror.**

**They are supposed to kill each other, but a joker exists. The only human amongst the demons.**

**He is the ticket to freedom. Is Naruto able to cope with his new situation, since everybody is after him? But Sasuke is there. He will help him.**

**(Horror and excessive gore. First boyxgirl, later boyxboy)**

_**Ther german original is not finished yet, so it will take quite a while to get the new top of that the chapters are freaking long. Around ten pages.**_

** Note**

**Naruto did it. With he sweet seventeen years he managed to become a popular author, who lives and dies for his books. He is constantly skipping school, annoys the shit out of his brothers and lives happily his live. Until he meets his greatest criticizer. Sasuke Uchiha is from their first encounter Narutos worst enemy, yet he is attracted to him.**

**This causes trouble inside the Uzumaki family. What´s wrong with Menma?**

_**The same problem with Down to hell and destruction, but the updates would be faster since the chapters are not that long and it will finish soon.**_

_**I will make a poll on my profile so vote there until the next week.**_

_**Over and out XD**_


	2. Chapter 2

_Hey there! First of all I want to thank all of you for the reviews, favorites and followers. I never expected so much, after all my is English is not all that good. But I will try to improve in all areas I lack._

_As you probably noticed this is slight AU. Not much but a bit of the original plot is going to change. _

_** gunslayer12: I would be really glad if you edit the chapters. And thank you very much in advance. **_

_**I´ll send the next chapters to you. **_

_Don´t forget to vote on the poll at my profile. The Story description is found at the first chapter, below the main story._

**Chapter 2:**

**-To see whats underneath the underneath, is not always something one should do.-**

Ino frowned in irritation.

Since her father told her about Narutos mental condition, she couldn´t help but to think about it.

Her thoughts were nearly every single second occupied with the blonde prankster.

A few days ago she wanted to gather some information about the boy. After all her father belonged to the I&amp;T department and always told her about the value of information. The right information at the right time could determine the outcome of a battle.

Which is why she was currently searching for every possible information about Naruto Uzumaki.

If his mind was really infected, then she wanted to know why. It´s not that she doubted her father or anything, but his assumption was just too ridiculous.

After all Naruto Uzumaki is an idiot.

Kind and caring, yet unbelievable stupid.

Even today she wondered about the relationship between Naruto and Sasuke. They were so very different, Naruto was cheerful, while Sasuke was more of a brooding boy.

But they got along pretty well. They were often seen, walking along the main street and do some shopping.

However that ´s not the reason she frowned and grew slightly impatient.

The first reason: Naruto hasn´t come back yet, even though a week had already passed. For a matter a fact she hated waiting, so Narutos absence strained her, since she could not go on with her plan.

Well, the second reason she was getting angry, was the missing of information about Naruto Uzumaki.

Ino already waltzed trough the entire Ninja information office and only found a small file with Narutos Name, his birthday, blood-type and his ninja records. The medical files were off limit for her, since they were stored in the SS-class sector as the appendix stated.

Of course the access to the ninja information office was also forbidden to enter, but she was able to snuck the key away of Tsunade.

Ino was aware of the risk she took in order to find some valuable information, yet she was too curios to forget about her seemingly mysterious comrade.

In the end she got nothing, except Narutos blood-type and was already thinking about the present to give to Naruto.

So she decided to ask around. There should be at least a few persons who know about Naruto life before he became part of the Rookie 9.

Sakura told her a while ago that Naruto was orphan and previously lived at an orphanage.

Since there are only two very large orphanages in Konoha, she decided to pay them a visit.

The one she was closer to, was located in the east of the hidden village and mostly raised the orphan of the red light district, but she was actually hesitant about going there.

Her mother always told her, to avoid this district. After all she was her favorite princess.

But something like this wouldn´t stop her. After all she was a kunoichi.

But Ino wanted to know what´ s wrong with Naruto. Her patience was already close to a break down.

When she entered the district, red light flashed her. The signs went on and off, making her a little bit dizzy.

In front of the shops and brothels, women with heavy make up, tried to lure some customers in their sex selling houses.

The stench of alcohol and cigarettes made Ino sick. She could even hear the screaming of a few peoples making out in the ally way.

All in all it confused and disgusted her.

How could a woman fall so low to even sell her body?

She wanted to get to the orphanage as quickly as possible, but she had no idea where to go.

Her map seemed to be too old or just incorrect.

Ino approached a women, who was currently waving her fan, instead of calling out for customers.

Her make up even thicker than the ones she saw before, but she noticed, that this woman was not ugly at all.

"Aren´t cha too young to run around at this district? Be careful there are many perverts who like young girls.", the woman greeted Ino, while remaining in the relaxed pose.

Ino was kind of terrified.

She would have never expected that this area could be this dangerous.

Without a doubt she was scared shitless.

She took a breath and tried to calm down. Everything´s alright. After all she was a kunoichi.

No civilian would be able to fight with her on equal terms.

"I am searching for the orphanage. How do I get there?", she asked.

The woman in front of her raised an eyebrow.

"You´re not gonna adopt one of the brats right? So what do you want there?", she sounded distrustful.

Ino flinched at the harsh tone of the lady, but regained composure again.

"Lately my boyfriend is behaving weird and has nightmares about his past in the orphanage and I want to know what happened there.", Ino lied swiftly.

"Don´t lie to me brat. There is no boyfriend, right? If you were also from here I would have believed you, but you´re just a stupid naive girl from the better parts of Konoha. I can smell your innocence three miles against storm. So whats the real reason!", the prostitute snarled angrily.

Ino twitched. She was not used to such a harsh tone, except it was herself using it.

"I am curious about one of my Shinobi comrades. He is hiding so much. We barely know anything about him and I think he could pose great danger if we don´t know about the things he is hiding.", Ino was still lying, but it was closer to the truth.

For some reason, Ino got the feeling that the woman knew about it, but kept quiet.

"I show you where the orphanage is and acoompany you home. This is not a place for small innocent girls. Well, I am not in the mood to welcome any costumer too.", the woman stated and stood up. "By the way I am Kejoro. Owner of the Lotus6."

The orphanage was an old and cranky building, nothing where Ino wanted to live.

If Naruto was raised there, she already knew the reason why his mind was poisonous.

The roof was barely able to keep the rain outside, some parts were leaking. Even though it was a giant mansion, it seemed small, because the rubbish was scattered throughout the house.

The small garden remembered Ino of a wasteland and the walls, dirtied with graffiti, made the orphanage look run-down.

But the worst of all things was the smell, which digged into her nose and stayed there, corroded her brain slowly from the inside.

"Most children are mothered by a prostitutes. They have no choice but to abandon their kids, because they don´t get enough money to provide the kid too. Here in the red light district, you´re nothing if you can´t sell yourself. Since the children are under the children law protection system, they cannot be sold until they reached the legal age or become ninja. Until they earn money they are just a hindrance.", Kejoro explained, looking indifferent.

Inos mind was close to an overload. This was to much to even think about it.

As soon she imagined Naruto playing in the small garden, she wanted to run. There was no way that this cheerful boy was raised here.

But it was most likely. The small flat Naruto owned was just a few streets away from the red light district and in the poor parts of Konoha.

"Let´s go.",Inos voice cracked. "I still want to know the truth."

When they entered the hallway Ino was close to vomit, but she did her best to held back.

Kejoro seemed used to the stench, surrounding the orphanage and didn´t even flinch.

There was a small counter with a bored woman around the same age as Kejoro, sitting behind wall of glass.

When she spotted the two girls she raised bushy eyebrows and fixated her glare at Kejoro.

"What are you doing here, you worthless whore? Now want one or two boys to fuck?", she spat and shot hateful glares at the woman.

"It was your husbands own decision to pay me a visit. I simply did what I am payed for. If you should be angry at someone then it´s your husband who was stupid enough to get seen.", Kejoro simply shrugged of. "Now do your job and help the brat here."

Ino felt really uncomfortable. Seriously where was her brash nature? Normally she would have already yelled at the bitch in front of her. But this was so confusing and irritating, which scarred her to no measurable extent.

Ino took a deep breath and plucked up some courage.

"Tell me, what do you no about Uzumaki Naruto.", Ino asked with a strong voice. There was no hint of her former fear.

From the instantaneous angle Ino noticed the shocked face of Kejoro. This woman knew something about Naruto. For sure.

"The demon brat? What would you want from him?", the receptionist asked. A glance at her name tag told Ino that this hateful woman was called Morikawa Ikumi.

"I want information about him. That´s all. Nothing more, nothing less.", Ino stated, but wondered why the old hag called Naruto _The demon brat_. Probably because he caused to much trouble and played his stupid pranks.

"I am sorry, but as much as I like to hand over the information regarding him, there is a death penalty, if I were to do that. My predecessor made the mistake and ended up being branded as a traitor and got hanged. Just an advice. Don´t get close to him if you value your life.", Ikumi stated and leaned back in her chair.

Biting her lower lip, Ino left the orphanage without saying anything. Kejoro followed close up.

This whole situation she was stuck in, was just ridiculous. Surreal.

How was Naruto still so cheerful and annoyingly bright after staying in the mansion of horror.

"Kejoro, you know something about Naruto, right? Tell me.", Ino demanded.

Kejoro shook her head. "I know about him. After all he spend most of his time at the Lotus6, until he ran away from the orphanage. He was a happy child despite the things that happened to him. But sometimes he went silent, just stared with an empty glance at the wall and didn´t move. His body was there, but I don´t know where his mind wandered of. It felt like he was already dead, his body only an empty shell with no worth."

Ino and Kejoro walked along the main ally, which lead directly into the area for the rich inhabitants of Konoha.

"What was the orphanage lady talking about? She called Naruto demon brat and said there is a death penalty for people who spread the information about him.", Ino wanted to now and watched the nervous mimic of the owner of the Lotus6.

"You have to understand that we cannot talk directly about the secret revolving around Naruto. It´s an SS-ranked secret, yet almost every adult here in Konoha knows about it. If you´re good enough you can get some drunken men to tell you the truth, but be aware of the fact that they are most likely to get killed."

Kejoro stopped and turned around to face Ino.

"But if you are really smart, then stop investigating this any further."

"What do you want, you troublesome woman?", Shikamaru yawned and blinked at Ino who stood in front of him, her hand resting on her waist. Her foot hit the floor in a constant rhythm.

"I need your brain, genius.", she stated with a firm voice.

"Nah too troublesome.", Shikamaru declined and already was close to dreamland.

Ino growled angrily and kicked Shikamaru in his side. "Help me now. It´s about Naruto."

The Nara rolled his eyes, but got up. This woman would bother him until he did what she wanted.

"I told you to leave Naruto alone, right? Why do you still bother about him? Do you have nothing to do? Then please clean the garden for me.", Shikamaru muttered under his breath.

"So what is it?", he asked.

"You need to find something that helps me to get a grasp about Narutos past. I have brought his files along and all my notes, but nothing makes sense.", Ino explained and lifted the heavy files, which contained everything about Naruto she could get. She even went and stole Teuchis Ramen receipt.

"Shit. This is even more you collected about Sasuke. Are you some crazy stalker?", Shikamaru said and rubbed the back of his head.

"Shut up Nara and help me. I promise you that I won´t bother you about my Sasuke antics ever again, so look at the reports.", Ino snapped.

"A nice offer. I accept."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

-When darkness envelopes you, then call for mercy-

"Talking"

'Thinking'

"Ino? What's up with this information? There's barely anything usable-" Shikamaru started but was cut off by the blond beauty.

"Stop chattering and tell me what you've got." Ino demanded and crossed her arms, waiting for an answer.

"Well, because most of the data are ridiculous things like the contents of instant ramen, there's nothing much I can tell you about him. We already know Naruto was dead last in the academy, is loud and kinda troublesome and has an addiction for ramen." Shikamaru lied.

Ino may have dug up some rather useless things, but there was some that hinted at a few things. One of them was the possibility of an Uzumaki clan.

Shikamaru, not liking mysteries, had sneaked into the Nara library and searched for allied villages of Konoha. It was just a hunch he had, but it was better than nothing.

If there´s a Uzumaki Clan then one of the allied villages should have them.

The Uzumaki Clan came up before, but had only said that the Uzumaki Clan was hunted down, causing them to vanish. It had taken a while and Shikamaru had to go back to the founding of Konoha but, as his documents stated, the Uzumaki Clan was well known for their long levity and for being masters at Fuinjutsu.

But much more interesting to Shikamaru was the relation of the Uzumaki clan to the Senju Clan and Uchiha Clan.

Because the Shodaime married a member of the Uzumaki Clan, Naruto must be somehow connected to this.

What bugged Shikamaru the most, wasn't the fact that the Senju had Uzumaki blood running through their veins, but the connection to the Uchiha clan. No matter what kind of book Shikamaru waltzed through, it was always the same.

"Never engage an Uchiha and Uzumaki together."

Strangely enough there was no reason written down as to why this was a rule.

Why would they especially mention this in a book that discussed the most dangerous Kekkei Genkai? The pages about the UU combination were even specially marked.

"Why?" Shikamaru wondered and decided to investigate further. „So troublesome."

However, even tough Shikamaru had not found out any valuable things, he was sure that there was more goinig on as he had expected. Not necessarily good things.

But he couldn't tell Ino anything about it. Certainly not. It was too dangerous.

That´s why she went home without any new information.

(-.(-.(-.(-.(-.(-.(-.(-.-).-).-).-).-).-).-).-)

Ino was wide awake when she glanced at her clock, the soft ticking noise making her feel restless.

It was already past midnight, but for some reason she wasn't able to calm down. Naruto still haunted her. Yes, he haunted her.

Whenever she turned around or looked at a dark corner, she expected to see Narutos usually blue eyes tinted in red, along with an insane smile plastered on his whiskered face.

Of course her mind was playing tricks on her. Her father made her feel like that. It was his fault that she thought of Naruto like that.

She covered her eyes with her hand, trying to ignore the lingering darkness that seemed to press down on her.

"This is utter bullshit!" She yelled, trying to get the small ounce of fear to go away.

Why was she afraid? Shikamaru had only told her things she already knew about, that Naruto is an oblivious freak with a weird ramen addiction.

This uneasy feeling that made her want to run until she got away, only became bigger and bigger until she was nearly unable to control it; unable to control this monster of fear...

(-.(-.(-.(-.(-.(-.(-.(-.-).-).-).-).-).-).-).-)

Shortly after 2 o´clock in the morning, Ino decided to leave her house. Beforehand she assured herself that her parents were asleep and thus continued to prepare for her secret self declared mission. She was still convinced that Naruto was just the idiot everyone thinks he is. (I though she wasn't convinced he was bad?)

After she gained some distant from her parents house, she turned left to follow the short cut towards the red light district. It took her almost twenty minutes of walking to arrive to keep a low profile. The Anbu members probably already spotted her, but as long as she didn´t cause any trouble things would be fine. At least that was what she hoped for.

The red light district was even brighter in the night. Ino still hadn't gotten used to this rough atmosphere and the skin that was on a constant display. Even though she liked to show off her body, especially her flat stomach, the whores were a little too much. During the day they pretty much wore nothing, but right now they were almost literally naked!

Suddenly an old man, probably even older than her grandpa, sauntered up and blocked her way.

"Oi! Lil' miss. Wanna come and play a little? Imma real nice." the old drunkard said while lurching back and forth, barely keeping himself upright.

His breath smelled like cheap whiskey. Ino gagged a bit and resisted the urged to puke. This man was really disgusting.

"No thanks. I'm not interested in an old pedo like you." she retorted, trying to keep her confidence. She wasn't sure where but she had heard somewhere that it was best to look confident and mature, which would help keep old creeps like this one away.

"I just like young girls, ya know. They are so much fun. Imma sure you´ll like it. Imma be really gentle." the old man insisted and tried to grab her wrist to drag her down the alleyway.

Of course she didn't let him, instead she raised her leg and kicked his balls. Always a good defense against perverts.

"Leave me alone, damn it!" she yelled, her voice unsteady from the shock. Even though she was a kunoichi, it´s still scary to face a potential rapist.

She turned around and quickly ran up to the main street where she hoped she would be safe, or at least as safe as she could be in this district. She tried to calm down, yet the adrenaline still rampaged in her body, keeping up a fast heart beat. Somewhere off to the side Ino could hear a women trying to convince a costumer to stay for a night.

She shook her head trying to focus. First of all she needed to find a place to start her research. But simply thinking about a run down bar, filled with drunken old man made her sick.

Why was she doing this? After all it was just Naruto. Plain old Naruto. What could possibly make him dangerous enough to place him with the most insane shinobis?

A part of her just wanted to leave things as they were but the other half, her curious side, wanted to know about him. That blond haired enigma.

Which is why she mustered up her courage and strode forward towards the center of the red light district.

Thanks to a friendly woman that was working one of brothels she passed by, Ino knew exactly where she had to go to get information.

The Second Life was the most popular shop for...certain kinds of people. It was actually a higher class establishment for every individual that had enough money or a name.

Sadly Ino had no idea to get in. Even though she counted as a legal adult, she still wouldn't be able to enter because she barely had any money with her. She probably wouldn't even be able to afford a simple drink!

She finally decided to hide behind a neighboring house and make a reasonable plan to get the information she needed. First of all, she had to approach the right person and then make sure this person spills the beans. Luckily her father was a member of the I&amp;T Department and showed her some "tricks" if you wanted to call it that. She would get what she wants eventually.

So she sat down and waited for someone who looked like a mental push-over to leave the establishment.

(-.(-.(-.(-.(-.(-.(-.(-.-).-).-).-).-).-).-).-)

Ino guessed it was already 4 o´clock when someone suitable finally exited the shop and staggered outside. He was clearly drunk, barely able to walk and stumbled into a wall more than just once.

His body was a lean build.

"He's just a civilian. It should be easy to get him to talk." Ino mumbled under her breath before she stood up, ready to go. Her plan was almost fool proof. As she got closer to him he noticed her and started to smile like a madman.

"Oiii, schweety. Whatcha doing here? Come to see me?" he asked, his arrogance pouring out of every little pore. Ino almost cringed in disgust, but maintained her supposedly seducing smile.

"Of course, I always wanted to see you. Sadly I was just a bit to shy to talk to you." she answered and brushed her hair aside. The man laughed loudly as if she made the best joke ever. Stupid moron. Didn't he think this was a little strange?

"Oh Babe. There's no need to be worried about that. I'll forgive you. After all I am the great Marume-sama." Forgive me for what exactly?, Ino wondered but shrugged it of, but she noticed that something was weird about this man. How was it possible that he had trouble to speak earlier, but was now able to talk like a sober human? Unconsciously she moved back trying to gain a little bit more space between them.

"I'm so glad you forgive me, Marume-sama." she played along, but had actually no idea what was going on. This was so fucked up right now.

"Well then, come with me. You belong to me from now on. Don´t disappoint me, girl." Marume mumbled and grabbed her wrist hard. Ino flinched when the pain flashed through her. How could she misjudge this guy so much? He was dragging her towards him, without Ino being able to ask any questions. Who was this guy anyways that he could hold himself in such high regards?

"Marume-sama, please wait a moment. I have a question to ask and I hoped you would know. After all you are the most knowledgeable man here in Konoha."

He turned around and watched her cautiously.

"What do you want to know, girl?" his voice hinted mistrust.

Ino silently cursed herself.

"Well, a friend of mine had some trouble with a certain Naruto Uzumaki. She plans to have revenge against him, but she still needs some information to hit where it would hurt him the most." Ino explained. Of course everything was made up, but she thought it would be a good an idea to approach the topic that way since everyone in Konoha seemed to hate the blond kid.

"Huh? The demon brat? Your friend wants revenge? Wish her good luck from me if you ever see her again. That demon brat is gonna kill her long before she's even able to lay a hand on him." Marume smirked like a sinister monster every time he mentioned "demon brat".

Ino felt seriously uncomfortable, if that was even the right word to describe what she felt.

"Now come on. I don´t want to spend any thought on that thing anymore. By the way I know a very nice place to go..." he was interrupted when something came crashing down.

Marume got squarely hit in the jaw and fell like a corpse to the ground, obviously knocked out.

A figure, a little bit taller than her, stood in front of Ino who was still shocked and unable to progress what just happened.

"Stupid brat! What do you think you were doing? One step more and you would have become a prostitute in Mist for the rest of your life!" the attacker yelled, obviously angry as hell.

Ino blinked a few times before she registered the person who just rescued her. At the same time, shame washed over her as she realized how stupid she actually had been. Yeah, sure she was an awesome kunoichi, she mocked herself silently.

(Is Kejoro the nice lady that helped Ino find the place to get info? If that'e not true then it might be good to leave a flash-back saying who she is and how Ino met her. If it IS her then it might be good to properly emphasis it.)

"Kejoro." she whispered before her legs lost the power to stand. That one stunt had been scary as hell.

"Come on now or we'll could get in even more trouble, princess." the lady, who helped her already the last time she visited the red light district, demanded and dragged Ino with her.

(-.(-.(-.(-.(-.(-.(-.(-.-).-).-).-).-).-).-).-)

Kejoro guided her through the maze of streets and led her to the Lotus6. The neon signs were dimmer compared to the other shops and there was no woman waiting outside to try and get some costumers. Ino took a glace at Kejoro who was maintaining a stern face. For some reason there was barely any make up on her face. Something Ino never though she would see.

"My husband died today twelve years ago. I don't feel comfortable to wear too much make up on his mourning day, don't ya think so too, little princess? Ya know, he always told me I had the most beautiful face he had ever seen." Kejoro explained after she noticed the curious glance Ino had gave her. Slowly Ino nodded. So even Kejoro had a sad story to tell. Somehow she felt guilty even though she was clearly not responsible for the death of Kejoros husband. She sighted slightly and followed the whore in the shop.

"Sit down lil' princess, I'll get something for your wrist." Kejoro told her and disappeared into one of the back rooms leaving a confused Ino behind. She looked at her wrist, which was blue and swollen to twice the original size. She knew Marume had grabbed her wrist quite rough, but she never expected to have taken so much damage.

"Weird..." she breathed out and sat down on a bar-stool. Her mind was still in chaos. This whole situation was so weird. If someone had told her three days ago that she would end up in the red light district, she would have him declared as a mental hospital patient. Normally she would buy some new clothes, eat the new diet ice cream, spread some gossip or try to get Sasukes she was sitting in a run down shop and tried to understand why she felt so uneasy.

"Here we go." Kejoro announced before she sat down next to Ino and started to wrap a bandage around Inos wrist. "You had better go to the hospital after this."

"Yeah." she responded slowly and stared at the white wrapping, but yelped when she felt a stinging feeling at her cheek.

"That is for snooping around! How could you go around like a blonde bimbo and get yourself into a human trafficking attempt! With the son of a mafia boss no less!" Kejoro screamed, her face changing into an unhealthy red. "I told you last time already to stay in your perfect little world! Children do not belong here! Especially not a lil' princess that knows nothing about this part of the world!"

Ino had no idea how to react. What was she supposed to say? Should she apologize?

"But I wanted to know about Naruto..." she muttered, looking away, since she blushed slightly.

She knew that she should just drop her insane idea of discovering Narutos great secret, but all those incidents made her even more curious.

Suddenly Kejoros face looked pained. "Can´t you just leave it? It will only get you in more trouble, Naruto too, for that matter."

Ino shook her head. There was no way she could ignore the things she heard about Naruto. No matter what she knew herself enough to understand that she wouldn't give up, until she knew.

Kejoro sighed loudly, looking older for a few seconds before she regained composure.

"Fine. I will tell you about it in the afternoon. But right now I'll walk you home. You look tired."

Ino agreed, happy being able to go to bed. She really needed it. For a moment she even forgot about the promise Kejoro made with her. Tomorrow she will finally know why Naruto has a sick mind. Why she was not permitted to enter it. Tomorrow...

But Ino will never know what happened at the same time somewhere else...

(-.(-.(-.(-.(-.(-.(-.(-.-).-).-).-).-).-).-).-)

"Oh Hinata, have you heard? Naruto is back. Won´t you go and greet him? I am sure he appreciate it."

Done. I am sorry for taking my time, but first I had to deal with broken fingers and after that I was just to stressed out to do anything...On top of that I had a mayor slump. You might notice it at the beginning. So I Just say sorry and try to write more often. None the less, I hope you still like the chapter and look forward to the next. After all Naruto will finally make his appearance.

Yay!

Well then, over and out

Buddycomplex

Special Thanks to gunslayer12 (You're welcome! :D)


	4. Chapter 4

**Mind Games **

**Chapter 4: Destiny is calling me, just opened my eager eyes.**

Step by step, he got closer to the gates of Konohagakure no Sato, his home and fortress as well as his sanctuary from his harsh life as a ninja. It only had been roughly two weeks since he left with this old and stupid pervert, but it felt like years passed. Okay that was maybe a little bit exaggerated but he missed his friends and teammates. Even though the company of the old man was comfortable to a certain degree, he only felt home when they were right beside him.

The skittish feeling intensified, as well as his grin, that almost seemed to big for his face.

"Come on, Ero-sennin. I wanna go! Konoha is only a few meters left and you´re slacking. Lazy ass!", Naruto yelled, but his happiness didn´t diminish in the least.

"You damn brat. Why don´t you just shut up and be considerate at least once of the elder? Pay some respect to me. I am Jiraiya! The great sage of mount Myouboku! The strongest of the Sannin! A real ladies man, ya know?"

"Whatever, old man. Whatever.", was all Naruto said before jumping in the air to get a small head start as he started running as soon as his feet touched the dusty path.

"You shitty brat!", Jiraiya yelled and followed his bratty disciple.

His hair would definitely get gray faster. This child was even more troublesome than his mother.

* * *

Upon entering the village Naruto felt a lot lighter, but at the same time, everything that he had banished from his mind came back, crashing down on him. It was a strange mixed feeling, one he couldn´t describe. It was just there and lingered in the back of his consciousness, waiting to attack. Unexplainable and unstable. It felt similar to the monster that resided inside of Konoha. Not that many would know, but Konoha had also his rotten roots below the surface. An even darker secret than his own.

"Hey Naruto, already home? Let me guess, Jiraiya-sama got so annoyed by your pranks that he sent you home on a fast track."

Narutos head shot up, his golden hair whipped around and focused on the chuunin that brought him out of his musings.

"Idiot! There is no way that Ero-sannin wouldn´t like my pranks. I am sure he loved them.", replied the genin and moved towards the gatekeepers, also known as Kotetsu Hagane and Izumo Kamishiro.

"Stop lying, Naruto." Izumo laughed at the younger boy and gave him a friendly slap on his back, not noticing the slight frown.

"Now hop on and let us two adults do our work. We are very busy ninjas after all.", interrupted Kotetsu the friendly banter, not without a smile on his face.

"You´re only chuunin and gatekeepers at that. What kind of work keeps you guys busy at all?", Naruto said with his cheeky grin plastered on his whiskered face, while he prepared himself to start a mad dash once more, out of fear (more or less) to be attacked by said chuunin.

"Oh! I almost forgot. I have brought you a souvenir from Mist, ain´t I awesome?", asked the genin and threw a small package in their direction. Out of reflect, Izuma cought it almost at ease with his hands. Inspecting the small thing, a sudden feeling of distrust arose in his gut. Since when did Naruto get them presents?

"Aw shit. This is getting old.", was all he could utter, before the thing went off with a loud and flashy explosion.

Laughing loud enough for everyone to hear, Naruto jumped with chakra enforced legs on the next building, to get out of their range.

"Fucktards!", He screamed. This day couldn´t get any better.

Just as Naruto left the entrance of Konoha, one white haired man, that could be mistaken for a kabuki actor strolled in, oblivious to the scene that Naruto left. On a normal day, he would he have only nodded to the two victim of gate keeping, but this time something irked his attention, which was the sole reason he decided to turn around.

Keeping his full blown laughter to himself, well at least he tried, he faced the victims of Narutos vicious pranks.

"So he got you guys too, huh?"

* * *

While Naruto got himself acquainted with Konoha once more, a routine he always did for some reason, Ino was still at home, chugging down the Miso soup her mother prepared for breakfast and skipped through some books that Shikamaru lent to her. She might not be able to keep up with the genius, but she wasn´t stupid. Mind reading required a somewhat intelligent person to perform them. They were, no matter what other people said, actually very complex. Her father once even went as far as comparing it to sealing. Something that the Uzumaki Clan had been very profound of. Yes, she now knew that an Uzumaki Clan existed. After her talk with the lazy Nara, who had been very uncooperative, she at least got the information, that there was a possibility of an Uzumaki Clan. After some research on her part, since Shikamaru was unwilling to give more information, she discovered a few traces. Not much, but now she knew that there had been once an Uzumaki Clan, that got destroyed during a war, she just could´t remember which one, and was once allied to Konoha.

As well as the already obvious fact that they very proficient in Sealing arts.

There was also a side note, scribbled down on the side of the paper, that their body constitution allowed something, but since the page was so horribly smudged, she wasn´t able to deduce what the note said.

Couldn´t be this important when it wasn´t even written down properly.

"Ino, darling? Shouldn´t you be on your way to meet up with your dream? Today are special lessons, right?"

Ino looked up from her book, her mother stood there with her apron draped over her arm and Ino noticed something unusual about her mother. Instead of her usual work wear, the simple civilian clothes she preferred, she dressed up. The normal clothes were now switched to a traditional kimono, that was rather simple compared to her mothers other dresses and kimonos. Mother and daughter shared a similar fashion style after all.

"Well I have a meeting with the Uchihas today. They wanted special flowers for the anniversary of the Uchiha massacre. They wish to decorate each grave with a few flowers. This is a huge job and could boost our household budget quite a bit.", her mother stated and straightened out her Obi.

For some reason the way, her mother talked about her beloved Sasukes family annoyed her less than it should have. Despite the irritation upon discovering that fact, she protested a moment later.

"Mom! You can´t talk like this about Sasukes family, as if they are mere objects that give you money. This immoral!"

Her mother frowened.

"As if you had the right to say that. Isn´t it like that for all the ninjas like that too? You do the same. Business is business. Whether you do business as a ninja or a civilian. The only difference is that we civilians spill less blood."

* * *

Still shocked by the reprimand of her mother, Ino walked to their training area at a rather leisure pace.

Her mother, always a very gentle and understanding, rarely got like that. While thinking about her mother, her thoughts shifted to Kejoro, the prostitute that helped her twice already. The owner of Lotus6 seemed to be a very strong and competent women, so why did she work there? In the red light district?

For some reason, she had to think of a lesson that her father gave her, when she still immersed herself into the complex clan arts. It was just a faint memory, but she still recalled the moment when her father sat down on a kitchen stool and looked at her, wearing an almost as serious expression on his face as the time when he told her about the infected minds.

_'Ino, when you meet someone, don´t let yourself lead astray by your first impression about them. People are often more, what you expect.'_

She decided to keep it in her mind. As it seemed, she would think about it more often in the future.

When she finally arrived at the training area, the only one present was Chouji who waved at her, a potato chip bag right beside him.

"Good morning Ino, did you sleep well? You seem a bit tired? Why don´t you get some sleep until Asuma-sensei and Shikamaru arrive. I guess it will take them a while since, Shikamaru was really pissed when I came around to pick him up."

Ino frowned and actually wanted to scream at someone, but she decided to swallow her anger and sat down right beside her ever friendly teammate. Silently Chouji kept munching his food, obviously not in the mood for some light chatter, but that didn´t bother her either. Right now she was not only tired from her previous adventure, but also stressed out because of her meeting with Kejoro in the afternoon.

"Have you heard? Naruto is back and already causing chaos.", Chouji said softly, some crumbs fell on his shirt and Ino brushed them away without noticing that she did it. It was more out of habit.

"Since when?", She asked, trying not to sound to interested.

"I heard that he already played a prank in the morning, so I guess he came back around that time.", replied the slightly chubby boy, fishing for another snack in his bag pack.

"Is that so?"

She was really an awful actress when it came to her friends. She seriously needed to work on that.

"I am sure Shikamaru and Asuma-sensei will take a while. They probably wouldn´t notice anything, if you were to disappear for a few hours or something."

Choujis hint was almost painfully obvious, but she still ushered a quick 'Thanks', before rushing from the training area on her way to Konohas centre. She didn´t know Naruto as well as the rest of the group but she guessed that the likelihood to meet Naruto at the Ramen stand he fancied, was a critical hit with a kunai.

As she arrived, dodging the slow paced civilians, Naruto wasn´t there, but another familiar face.

"Hina-chan? What are you doing here?"

Ino was actually surprised, even the short second of Frustration because Narutowasn´t there vanished almost in an instant.

"Enjoying my meal obviously.", was the short reply that astonished her even more.

"Oh, okay. Ehm, do you know where Naruto is? I have something to talk about with him. It´s really important."

"M-most likely at the U-uchiha mansion.", Hinata replied back in her usual demeanor, making Ino relax once more.

"Well I´ll be on my way then. See you, Hina-chan."

There were two things Ino never noticed when she left Ichiraku Ramen. The first thing was Hinatas unidentifiable gaze that lingered on the blonde even after she left. Secondly, all on her way to the Uchiha estate, not even one thought about Sasuke crossed her mind.

Running through the streets of Konoha that lead to the Uchiha district, Inos hair whipped into her face, but she couldn´t care less in this moment. Finally she would be able to get some answers.

It was so close. Almost directly in front of her.

Climbing the stairs, while skipping most of them due her chakra enhanced legs, that led to the compound, she felt almost ecstatic. Not one thought was spent on the fact how she should face Naruto. How she should confront him.  
Suddenly she stopped in her tracks- wasn´t she just acting almost as moronic as Naruto?

Not that she had time to worry about that anymore.

The sought after blond just popped up in front of her, looking at her with his usual sheepish expression.

"Hey Ino. What are you doing here?"

* * *

**I am so mean...I know. I am also aware that this is a rather boring chapter, but I wanted to get myself reintroduced to this story since it has been a while since I started writing this story. I have no idea when the next chapter will come up, as I am working on a multi chapter fanfiction that is getting over my head. I hope you still liked this chapter a little bit.**

**See ya next time. **

**In love Buddycomplex**


	5. Chapter 5

**Mind Games **

**Chapter 5: Daring Illusions**

"Wow, you look like shit. Saw a ghost or something? I mean they are really scary.", Naruto asked, still sounding like a real nuisance as always. He was dressed in his usual orange Jumpsuit, keeping his trademark grin, when he greeted her.

_You are the damn ghost!_, she thought, but Naruto opened his mouth right away.

"So why are you here? Wanna stalk Sasuke again? Is Sakura coming as well?" he went on with his ramble, while Inos thoughts drifted somewhere else.

How would Naruto react if she asked him directly?

Now that she stood right in front of him and had the chance to ask right out, she felt her gut clench.

How do you ask someone if they are fucked up in their mind?

"So when is she going to arrive? I haven´t seen her for such a long time."

"Sakura is working at the hospital right now, so she won´t come. I-I am only here because my mother forgot something at home.", she replied but her mind was still hung up on the crazy blond in front of her.

Noticing how lame the excuse was she brought up, almost made her blush. She really had to train her acting skills.

"A-Anyway I´ve gotta go. See you around, idiot.", she spluttered and turned around.

"What about your mother?", Naruto yelled but she ignored his question and simply kept going, only to come to a sudden halt as she realized something that had hurt her womanly pride.

"I don´t look like shit, you freak!", she screeched and walked away even faster.

As soon as she reached the corner and got out of Narutos sight, she let out a frustrated howl.

Under normal circumstances she would have never hesitated. Never. Maybe she feared to ask because her image she had from the stupid blond would be erased and replaced by an abhorred fantasy, even thought Naruto felt nothing like every other freak that fit in the same category. Every other person filled the prejudiced criteria almost perfectly. Only Naruto was the odd one out as always.

Seeing the real Naruto made her realize that the Naruto she thought about the last few days, were fundamentally different.

The real one versus her made up freak Naruto. It was ridiculous, but she knew both were possible.

So what is hiding behind all this?

Why does no one talk about Narutos past?

Before her meet up with Kejoro, she decided to pay a visit to Konohas library.

* * *

At this point the young kunoichi had no idea what kind of horrible things would happen in the near future.

"Naruto? Is everything alright or are talking to yourself again?"

"Ah no. Everything is alright, but I think Ino is going mad.", Naruto answered and turned around to face his best friend.

Sasuke irked a brow and shook his head. The blond didn´t make any sense again.

"Hn. Blond ninjas always have a few screws loose, don´t you think so?"

"Do you have to be this sarcastic?"

"I am just stating a fact.", Sasuke said, throwing a small smirk before turning around.

"Anyway, don´t cha think Ino is kinda cute?"

"You are weird Naruto."

* * *

Ino took the long way to the Central Library of Konoha, walking around the clan districts and avoided the busier shopping district, though she didn´t miss the short walk through the Konoha park to watch the beautiful flowers she and her mother planted only three month ago.

In this moment a thought came up, as always when she walked through the flower fields. She questioned herself countless times already if it was the right path to walk for her. Should she continue the harsh life as a kunoichi? Wouldn´t it be better if she just quit it outright, since she was neither very talented nor gifted with a powerful bloodline, that could be used on the battlefield. If she just did the same job as her mother, her life would be comfortable and safe. She wouldn´t have doubts about a fellow ninja or question the sanity of others.

She would never have to train so hard that her hand would be callused, her skin would be without scars and the list went on and on.

She hadn´t killed someone yet, but she remembered how Shikamaru reacted to his first. He didn´t get out of his room for three days straight and on his fourth day of self-confinement, he finally opened his door, though even then he was not the same old Shikamaru. She knew he had nightmares from time to time.

Would she end up like that too?

Could Chouji even take something like that? Could that softhearted boy even take a life.

Were there any benefits in being a ninja?

She couldn´t answer even one question, but despite that she stayed enlisted in Ninja register.

As she walked, her path led her to the hospital that was a few blocks away from the library.

The facility received a few upgrades ever since Tsunade took over the hat and even the grayed facade was painted over with a sterile white.

Right in front of the door, she saw a girl with cherry blossom colored hair walking down the sandy entrance path that led to the main street.

"Sakura-chan!", Ino yelled and waived her arm to get the other girl notice her.

Walking a little bit faster to meet her friend halfway, she noticed that Sakura seemed to have finished her shift already.

"Hey, what are you up to?", she asked.

"I heard that Naruto came back this morning so I will make a quick visit and after that no one will be able to keep me from going to bed. Even if Tsunade-sama herself calls."

"That was your first twenty-four hour shift right?"

Sakura nodded eagerly, but she seemed to fall asleep almost instantly. Under different circumstances a Ninja would be able to hold out much longer, but since they were off-field, the adrenaline rush was missing.

"So If you excuse me, my bed is ca-" " Haruno! We have an emergency and no assistants, so you will have to do. Stop dilly dallying and get moving. ", an intern, that Ino didn´t know, shouted and disappeared behind the large hospital doors.

Almost instantly Sakura stood upright and pulled her hair back.

"Sorry Ino, I have to go. Lets talk later. ", she said, before sprinting towards the facility.

Ino caught a glimpse inside, when Sakura rushed inside and thought she saw someone familiar.

_I must be imagining things again. _

* * *

Kejoro has been working for a long time in this business. She dealt with all kinds of costumer, fellow prostitutes and other rather shady people that hung around in the red light districts. She was a women that could take care of herself. Something that was definitely needed in an area like this and with a job like hers.

Thought sometimes everything went haywire, no matter how strong she was. No matter how independent she was.

In those moments she realized how weak she was.

She was weak when her husband died on the battlefield. Kejoro fell in dept, so high that some local gangster had to take care of her depts and she was forced to prostitute herself. It was just a common story of someone who ended up selling her body. She was one of many that fell into that trap and never escaped.

She once more felt weak, when her child with an unknown father, got killed by an annoyed costumer.

After that she ran away from the prostitution house to open her own shop, the Lotus6.

A child was worth nothing in this district. It was just another mouth to feed.

That´s why it didn´t exactly surprise her, how her sisters reacted.

"Just make a new one, if you want one that much."

It still hurt her and she never was able to get over the death of the little infant.

It changed that day when she met Naruto, when she was once again weak.

She should have just kicked the child, the poor cursed child, from her threshold.

Yet she never even thought about it. He reminded her of her own kin, when he smiled. So she did her best to make him smile.

Every single time she was successful, she felt something deep inside her stir.

Was it the joy of motherhood? Before she was able to find an answer to the question, Naruto disappeared and she was once again weak.

Never again she was able to smile as wholeheartedly again and the rest of her life vanished in a seemingly gray matter consisting of the every day life.

She spread her legs if needed, cleaned and readied herself for the next one and went over with it.

However those days were finally came to an end.

Kejoro turned around to see three men, clad in a dark shinobi armor enter the shop, their swords in their hands, gleaming in the faint sunlight.

"May I help you?"

* * *

Ino finally reached the Central library. The large building was practically enclosed with a small Forrest, making relatively isolated from other parts of Konoha. Why it was built at a place like this, was not comprehensible to her, but she was sure that the founders had their reasons.

Right in front of the entrance she discovered a women in an elegant Kimono, that reminded her of Kejoro. As she got closer, the women nodded faintly.

"Ino, I thought I could meet up with you now. I don´t have time for you in the afternoon. ", the women said.

"Äh... Hi Kejoro, I thought you would be sleeping around this time. Are you sure it´s okay?", Ino replied, but tried to hide her confused state.

"It´s okay. I just wanted to tell you, that I am moving away to Suna. I found someone, who is willing to be with me. So please forget everything about that boy or else you will put yourself in danger. I

can´t help you with this anymore."

Shocked to the core, Ino looked the woman straight to eye but couldn´t detect a lie, but anger still built up.

"Are you kidding me? You said that you would help me, so why are backing out now?", the blonde girl growled.

"I am sorry, but I really can´t help you.", said Kejoro once more. "So just forget about this whole thing, okay?"

"Yeah, let´s forget about it. Do what you want. I don´t care. Be happy in Suna.", was all Ino mumbled before she walked past the prostitute.

Of course she wouldn´t give up, just because one source wouldn´t talk.

Somehow she couldn´t get rid of the feeling that something was wrong with Kejoro. She behaved strangely. Calling her by her name was one of the many thing that made the whole scene feel strange.

Something was up with this woman for sure.

Hearing the slow steps behind her, Ino knew Kejoro was distancing herself from her.

He father forbade her any use of their clan techniques on civilians, but he would never find out, if she did everything right.

Just in the moment when her fingertips touched to execute the jutsu, she heard a sibilant sound behind before something hard hit her temple with a force that knocked her out instantly.

"You know what to do next."

"Yes Sir!"


End file.
